GA Dave

Next was Burn The Floor. Everything I had read about the entertainment on NCL was true. It is truly Broadway-quality. We also saw Million Dollar Quartet later in the week, as well as three-comedian show in the theater on Wednesday. We watched some of the bar musicians as well during the week. All the performers were amazing. My DW was picked out of the audience by one of the very tall male dancers during their entrance for Burn The Floor and she was thrilled. All in all, we were very satisfied with the entertainment.

As soon as my DW and I looked at the menu, we knew what we were having: Prime Rib!! We are huge fans and order it whenever it is available. However, we could never be ready for what they brought us. The portions in the Haven are huge!! After I commented that we had not order the whole cow, the server told us that the normal portion size is 10 oz. in the main dining room, 16 oz. at Cagney's, and 18 oz. (or larger) in the Haven. Mine had to be the "or larger". It was delicious, and the toppings brough for my DW's baked potato awesome, but we could not finish it all.

We did not have any specialty restaurant reserved for that night, so we decided to eat dinner in the Haven restaurant prior to going to Burn The Floor.

We returned back to the port around 2:30. The ride is about (30) minutes each way. Fortunately, our bus both ways was air conditioned. We saw other excursion vehicles in port that were not.

Can you tell I work in an office all summer? :')

Tabyana Beach Party. The area was quite beautiful. My DW felt the buildings (i.e., restrooms, bar, food deck, gift shops) could have been closer together, as there was quite a bit of walking through sand to get to them from the beach. The staff was very attentive, and the servers circulated frequently. The security personnel did a good job of watching over our things, but I still kept my wallet in my MasterLock personal safe. The water was incredible!! So clear, you could see everything in it and on the bottom. The food was good for a beach lunch and they had a good selection of adult beverages at reasonable prices. The only big negative was the hawkers. The beaches are all public land in Roatan, so they were always there. The security did a great job of keeping them away from the loungers, etc., but you could not get to the water or back without being asked over and over to buy something.

On the dock before our excursion.

First port day: Roatan, Honduras. We had reserved the Tabyana Beach Party through the ship. A few interesting points:

• We were escorted off the ship by the Concierge staff via the forward service elevators. This was one of the great benefits of sailing in the Haven. Saved a bunch of time waiting in lines, etc.
  
• The dock area was quite hot with minimal shade. Be prepared if you have to wait for your excursion.
  
• There was a strong police presence in the harbor area. They looked to be carrying Uzis or MP-5s. It may have been due to the protestors outside the main gate.
  
• The protestors had signs claiming that the cruise lines and tourists are destroying their environment with trash, etc. The interesting part is that, while on our bus headed to the beach, we passed a long stretch of waterfront with all kinds of trash on the shore. Most of the trash did not look like anything that a cruise line or its passengers would be throwing out (pizza boxes, bleach bottles, Coke bottles).
  

The approach into port.

Something I forgot to post earlier. Our in-room coffee service.

The beginning of the treats.

For our 30th anniversary on Monday, we had reserved Moderno for dinner at 7:30 PM far in advance. Once we boarded, we found that we had also been invited to a reception with the Captain and staff in Fat Cats at 6:30. So we made a full night of it. The reception was wonderful, with a live band, drinks, passed appetizers, and picture opportunities. Dinner at Moderno was as good as any meal we had previously at Fogo de Chao. My DW is a huge fan of the grilled pineapple and the staff kept her happy. I thought the filet was incredible. Wish I could find out where NCL buys their beef, because this was true all week.

The brass:

Posing:

Our complimentary anniversary cake:

Dave, I'm so sorry your wife experienced this. I hope, you did report this as it really should not have happened. I've dined in MDRs many times and never had an experience even close to this, however, I've heard that others have been disappointed. Hope your darling is feeling fine now and thanks for letting others know what they may want to avoid.

I do have to say the staff was very attentive once she became ill. They quickly offered napkins and soda water and apologized profusely. It was disappointing, but she was able to recover very quickly and she had wings later that night at O'Sheehan's with no issues. I was just so glad we had the Haven restaurant to eat in the rest of the week, as the food there was as good or better than all four of the specialties we ate at.

When we went back to The Haven for some rest and a few drinks, I noticed this on the bar. Anyone want a large glass? :')

Our slot pull was Monday afternoon and was a great time. Richard took home the pot. Congrats!

More wandering around pictures.

The port side of The Waterfront at night. Very relaxing.

Here is the regular "Topmast" bar menu. Many delicious drinks on here.

I had reserved dinner at The Tropicana Room since my DW is a huge I Love Lucy fan. She even went out and bought a poka-dot Lucy dress with matching jewelry, etc. Seating was immediate and the atmosphere and entertainment very nice. Unfortunately, the food was not good at all. We both ordered the French onion soup. It was very oily/greasy. I ordered the Caesar Salad, which had virtually no dressing. My main course of Beef Sirloin Medallions was fair, with the meat being tender, but the sauce kind of bland. My DW ordered the 3-Cheese Baked Ziti. When she stuck her fork in it and pulled up, the entire mass came out of the bowl. A couple of bites later, she literally became ill and we needed to leave so she could go clean up. Very disappointed with this, since she had so looked forward to it. We did not return to any of the main dining rooms for the balance of the cruise.

Next up was our informal CC/FB M&G at Spice H2O. The guys who arranged our events (slot pull too) did a great job. Kudos to them.

Next up was Muster Drill. This is an area they need to work on. Our location was in O'Sheehan's. No problem. We arrived at 3:20, found a seat. Muster was supposed to start at 3:30. People wandered in later and later. They finally started at 3:45. People still wandering in late. This took much too long simply due to people arriving late, wasting everyone else's vacation time. IMHO anyone not there by 3:30 should have to do muster out on the deck in the heat like the old times.

Dave, thank you so much for this wonderful, informative and well layed out review. I'm booked on the Encore inaugural cruise but feel like I need to cruise on a newer mega ship prior to that cruise just to get an idea of what to expect.

 

I think I'll likely choose the GA due to your wonderful review.

 

Thanks for all the great info and wonderful pics.

 

cheers, Connie

Glad you are enjoying it Connie. Many more pictures to come.

The inside portion of Sunset Bar.